{{short description|American businessman and comedian (born 1954)}} {{Infobox comedian | name = Jamie Masada | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1954|}} | birth_place = Pahlavi Iran | medium = Comedy club owner, television producer | active = 1979–present }}
'''Jamie Masada''' ({{langx|fa|جمی ماسادا }}; born in Pahlavi Iran) is a Persian American businessman and comedian. He is the founder of the Laugh Factory, a chain of comedy clubs in several states.
==Early years==
Masada is a Persian Jewish immigrant from Iran who had arrived in America as a teenager. Despite the fact that he was living in a garage and barely spoke English, he combined Persian and Hebrew and soon was working with professional comedians like Richard Pryor, Jay Leno, David Letterman and Redd Foxx.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.canyon-news.com/artman2/publish/Features-Aug-2007/The_Laugh_Factory_and_Jamie_Masada_No_Laughing_Matter_printer.php |title=The Laugh Factory And Jamie Masada, No Laughing Matter |date=8 March 2009 |access-date=31 March 2016 |author=Tommy Garrett |publisher=Canyon News |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304024327/http://www.canyon-news.com/artman2/publish/Features-Aug-2007/The_Laugh_Factory_and_Jamie_Masada_No_Laughing_Matter_printer.php |archive-date=4 March 2016 }}</ref>
==Career==
===Laugh Factory===
In 1979, Masada used a loan from Neal Israel to open the Laugh Factory on Sunset Boulevard.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Drink With Jamie Masada|url=http://adrinkwith.com/jamie-masada/|publisher=A Drink With|access-date=18 March 2014 |date=16 January 2013}}</ref> While other comedy club owners in Los Angeles were not paying the comedians,<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Zoglin|first=Richard|title=The First Comedy Strike|url=http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1709866,00.html| magazine=Time |access-date=18 March 2014}}</ref> his goal was to create a venue where comedians could perform and earn money by "splitting the door".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamie-masada/searching-for-richard-pryor_b_5592549.html|title=Searching for Richard Pryor|date=19 July 2014|work=The Huffington Post|access-date=8 April 2016}}</ref>
===''The Laugh Factory Presents''===
''The Laugh Factory Presents'' is an online stand-up comedy series, which Masada created for up-and-coming comedians to spread their material to a wider audience via YouTube and Amazon.com. Masada's plan is to film comedians' shows on the Laugh Factory stage and allow them to keep 80% of the profits made from the specials. With the help of Laugh Factory New Media, Masada produced two The Laugh Factory Presents specials, ''The Laugh Factory Presents Tim Gaither Live from Las Vegas''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3575528/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1|title=Laugh Factory Presents Tim Gaither Live from Las Vegas (Video 2014)|date=17 February 2014|work=IMDb|access-date=8 April 2016}}</ref> and ''The Laugh Factory Presents Raj Sharma Live from Las Vegas''.<ref>{{cite web|last=Jarvey|first=Natalie|title=Laugh Factory Releases Online Comedy Special|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/laugh-factory-releases-online-comedy-680868| work = The Hollywood Reporter |date=17 February 2014 |access-date=18 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3575540/|title=Laugh Factory Presents Raj Sharma Live in Las Vegas (Video 2014)|date=17 February 2014|work=IMDb|access-date=8 April 2016}}</ref>
==Honors and awards==
In recognition of all his hard work, Masada is the recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the ACLU Freedom of Speech Award and the NAACP Freedom Award.<ref>{{cite web|title=Our Leadership|url=http://www.laughfactory.com/leadership|publisher=Laugh Factory|access-date=18 March 2014}}</ref> In 2011, Masada received an award from Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services for being a Comedy Innovator and Humanitarian and for offering comics a listening ear to deal with their personal demons.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/features/2014/the_humor_code/are_comedians_really_depressed_or_is_sadness_just_funny.html|title=Are comedians really depressed? Or is sadness just funny?|magazine=Slate Magazine|date=3 April 2014 |access-date=8 April 2016 |last1=McGraw |first1=Peter |last2=Warner |first2=Joel }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/stand-up-comedians-to-receive-free-psychological-treatment-at-hollywoods-laugh-factory|title=Stand-Up Comedians to Receive Free Psychological Treatment at Hollywood's Laugh Factory|author=Hollie McKay|work=Fox News|date=26 March 2015 |access-date=8 April 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.latimes.com/local/great-reads/la-me-c1-comic-psychologist-20140825-story.html|title=This psychologist helps comedians keep laughing|author=Los Angeles Times|date=27 August 2014|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=8 April 2016}}</ref>
==Philanthropy==
thumb|Marquee at the Laugh Factory
In an effort to support under-privileged children, Masada created the Laugh Factory's Comedy Camp for children in 1985. Through this camp, he has worked with over a thousand children, using comedy as a way to build their self confidence.<ref>{{cite web|last=Banks|first=Sandy|title=Comedy Camp participants learn to 'wring laughs from my tears'|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/la-xpm-2011-jul-19-la-me-banks-20110719-story.html| work=Los Angeles Times |date=19 July 2011 |access-date=18 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.buzzfocus.com/2007/06/13/kids-comedy-camp-at-the-laugh-factory/|title=» Kids Comedy Camp at the Laugh Factory|publisher=|access-date=8 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416223659/http://www.buzzfocus.com/2007/06/13/kids-comedy-camp-at-the-laugh-factory/|archive-date=16 April 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Since 1979, Masada has hosted free Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners at The Laugh Factory for the homeless, the poor, or anyone who doesn't want to be alone for the holidays, with over 5000 attending in 2008.<ref>{{cite web|last=Olivarez-Giles|first=Nathan|title=Laugh Factory owner is serious about comedy|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-apr-05-fi-himi5-story.html| work=Los Angeles Times |date=5 April 2009 |access-date=18 March 2014}}</ref>
The Laugh Factory also hosts free services during the High Holy Days of Judaism.<ref>{{cite web|title=Free High Holiday Services 2012|url=http://www.jewishjournal.com/high_holy_days/article/free_high_holiday_services_2012_20120824/| work=The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles |access-date=18 March 2014}}</ref> {{Clear}}
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==Further reading== * {{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-apr-05-fi-himi5-story.html|title=Laugh Factory owner is serious about comedy|work=Los Angeles Times|date=5 April 2009 }} * {{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2014/voices/columns/laugh-factory-jamie-masada-funniest-person-competition-1201330070/|title=Laugh Factory's Jamie Masada Looks for Funniest Person in the World - Variety|author=Brian Lowry|work=Variety|date=16 October 2014 }} * {{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2014/scene/lifestyle/jamie-masada-continues-delivering-thanksgiving-alms-at-the-laugh-factory-1201362300/|title=Jamie Masada Continues Delivering Thanksgiving Alms at the Laugh Factory|author=Kevin Noonan|work=Variety|date=25 November 2014 }} * [https://books.google.com/books?id=Gi2gZQ7XygwC&pg=PA46 ''Variety's "The Movie That Changed My Life"'']. pp. 46–48. * [https://books.google.com/books?id=1XQ6xt25aREC&pg=PA296 ''Vintage Tomorrows'']. pp. 296–. {{subscription required}} * [https://books.google.com/books?id=KKqk3l2N6ZQC&q=%22Jamie+Masada%22 ''Comic Insights'']. pp. 264–269. {{subscription required}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20160503143253/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-161022244.html "Masada goes into spin tale"]. ''Variety''. {{subscription required}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20160503141146/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-158152748.html "Jamie Masada"]. ''Variety''. {{subscription required}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20160504191831/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-388827370.html "Stand-Up Guy"]. ''Los Angeles Magazine''. {{subscription required}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20160505103825/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-37047366.html "Laugh Factory Founder Hopes to Unite Countries through Search for 'Funniest Person in the World'"]. ''Los Angeles Daily News''. {{subscription required}} * {{cite web | last=Engelberg | first=Keren | title=Profile: Jamie Masada | website=Hadassah Magazine | date=June 11, 2006 | url=http://www.hadassahmagazine.org/2006/06/11/profile-jamie-masada/ | access-date=April 12, 2016}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|0556031}} * [http://www.laughfactory.com Official website of the Laugh Factory]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Masada, Jamie}} Category:American company founders Category:American magazine founders Category:American publishers (people) Category:American television producers Category:American stand-up comedians Category:American comedians of Iranian descent Category:Jewish American comedians Category:Nightclub owners Category:Businesspeople from California Category:Comedians from California Category:American male comedians Category:20th-century American Jews Category:21st-century American Jews Category:American people of Iranian-Jewish descent Category:Iranian emigrants to the United States Category:Iranian Jews Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:Place of birth missing (living people)